Living the simple life in Princeton has offered us rewards that I would like to share with all who care to stop in and see. From natures outdoor beauty to indoor cooking and everything in between. Welcome to my very special world in rural Wisconsin.

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Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Tiger Brewery Building in Princeton Wisconsin

Every now and then I like to write about our little town. When you are new to a town, it takes a while to learn it's history. We hadn't lived in Princeton too long before we discovered an interesting building about a block from downtown. This building was brick and was on the Fox River. When we first saw it, there was a big garage sale inside. It was old and damp and had a lot of rooms.

It turns out that it was an old brewery. The original owner was a master brewer who moved to the area from Prussia in the 1850's. He struggled to stayed in business. Apparently he enlisted in the Civil War and left his wife to run the business. It didn't make it. She didn't know how to keep the hops and sprouts from spoiling. It had several owners over the years, but reopened in 1934 with a new image. Tiger Beer began and it was marketed as the "Beer with a Purr". After the business closed in the late 1930's, the building was used for many things. It was a soda factory, a cheese business, a storage company, a mushroom growing facility, an antique store and even was used for a haunted house every Halloween for years. It is empty now which is a shame. Maybe with the popularity of small breweries, someone will come to town and reopen it. Although I'm sure the equipment is long gone and all that remains is the beautiful logo on the side of the building.

* I got some family information from Rich West. It was very nice of him to share. This is what he said "August Carl Weist, the founder of Tiger Beer, was my Great, Great Grand father. He was originally from Arnsdorf formerly Prussia, now
Germany. Somewhere along the line the 'e' was dropped from our name."

He also sent a bit more background on his Great Great Grandfather and the Tiger Beer building.

The link below is from a 1978 Milwaukee Journal article about the family. Very interesting to read.